Holden Caulfield in the Catcher in the Rye, a Novel by J. D. Salinger

In Salinger‘s novel The Catcher in the Rye, the narrator Holden Caulfield is a non» conformist who dismisses the workings of an established system. Throughout the novel Salinger creates situations that support the fact that Holden is a lonely, misanthropic, and self-destructive teenager because of his sensitivity to rejection. This sensitivity is the basis of all of Holden’s words, thoughts, and actions. Holden continuously contradicts and isolates himself against the norm in order to conceal his true vulnerability: rejection Holden Caulfield can be described as an anti-social teenager who is constantly trying to make connections with other individuals and retreat from his own self- made a world of isolation.

He repeatedly states that he is severely lonesome and consistently makes it a point to reach out, but never fully connects to others.

A prime example of this is when Holden ponders whether or not he should call someone to talk After walking into a phone booth and questioning who he should call he says “I ended up not calling anybody.

I came out of the booth, after about twenty minutes or so“ Holden entered the phone booth with the goal of talking to someone, yet left right after naming everyone he knew he could call. He wants to make a human connection, and his actions fell short. The reader realizes that Holden is afraid of reaching out for fear of rejection. He would rather walk away from conversation than to attempt to converse with others and be dismissed: he fears rejection.

Get quality help now

Writer Lyla

Verified

Proficient in: Holden Caulfield

5 (876)

“ Have been using her for a while and please believe when I tell you, she never fail. Thanks Writer Lyla you are indeed awesome ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

This behavior leads to a never ending cycle of Holden‘s alienation from society. He separates himself from the world in order to hide his facade of insecurity. Holden has a cynical view of the world and describes everyone, with the exception of a few, as “phonies.”

He is very judgmental and misanthropic person who sees his values as the correct way, in comparison to others “Phonies” are one of the main sources of Holden’s dissatisfaction with the world. Whenever he disagrees with a person or idea he immediately calls them “phony”. In a sense, Holden’s compulsion to call others “phonies” can be seen as a coping mechanism it is his way of discrediting others before they can reject him. Holden‘s actions shows that he is prone to violent outbreaks and acts out in a physical manner when he feels like he is being attacked. When Holden’s younger brother Allie suddenly dies he says “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. My hand still hurts me. . ,but outside of that I don’t care much.” This is an example of his self—destructive choices. He allows his emotions to get the better of him, and physically harms himself in the process.

A normal reaction to death may be crying, but Holden chose to break his hand in order to physically demonstrate his emotional pain. Holden self- diagnoses himself as being depressed multiple times, yet later in the novel Holden’s depression takes a physical form, His emotions take a vast toll on his psyche and body. His body‘s degeneration is one of the major factors of his decision to go home and seek help. He is at a point of total mind and body collapse, which is why he allowed himself to be institutionalized, Another example of his self-destruction is his unhealthy relationship regarding death. At one point he is significantly terrified of the idea of him dying, and at another point he contemplates dying of hypothermia. This toxic ideology centers on his brothers abrupt death. Allie is one of his favorite people, and losing him took a lot out of Holden.

Many instances of mental illness center around a traumatic experience, and Ailie’s death is Holden’s experience. Whereas Holden fears losing the life he could possibly have, he also wants to enter a simpler, other-worldly realm where his brother could possibly be. Allie’s death also caused Holden to hold on to preserving innocence He has seen how Allie’s personality will never be tarnished and wishes to experience a similar fate. The idea of variability and rejection discomforts Holden, and because of this, Holden chooses a lonely and self-destructive path for himself. He picks apart other peoples faults only to reaffirm his own bleak perception of humanity and hide his insecurity Holden is psychologically paralyzed because he has allowed his fear of dismissal from society to dominate his life. Holden’s loneliness and self-destructive and misanthropic behavior, caused by his inherent fear of rejection, ultimately caused his complete mental breakdown.